


bodies of touch and taste

by Who Shot AR (akerwis)



Category: Playboy Club
Genre: 1960s, Conversations, Established Relationship, F/F, Oranges, POV Third Person, Past Tense, lavender marriage, lovers in a dangerous time, post-sex, secret lesbians, walking around naked
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-20
Updated: 2011-10-20
Packaged: 2017-10-24 19:28:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/267019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akerwis/pseuds/Who%20Shot%20AR
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alice and Frances on an evening at home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	bodies of touch and taste

When the world--which had, for a few brief moments, collapsed into flashes of skin and the sound of the breaths she drew in--grew wide and dim once more, Alice asked, "Would you like a snack?"

"A snack?" Frances sat up, looking down with that small, knowing smile that never failed to trip Alice's heart into skipping a beat. It had worked when Sean introduced them, had worked that afternoon when she stopped over, and it was working as Frances responded, "I just had one, thanks."

Alice rolled her eyes toward the bedposts and swatted Frances' shoulder gently. "Very funny. You know what I mean."

"Sure. What'll we have?" She extended a hand, more like she expected Alice to kiss the back of it than pull herself up, and Alice took it delicately.

"Let's go find out. Do you want a robe?"

"Not if the shades are drawn. Do you?"

The alarm clock said it was quarter of seven, and Sean had promised he'd be a loyal campaign assistant for Illinois' future senator until ten. "I don't think it'd be fair if I got to look at you and you got to look at my bathrobe."

Frances followed her out into the hall, her eyes never straying from her hips. Alice couldn't know that for _certain_ , of course, but the one time she glanced back at Frances, she sure wasn't looking at the back of her head. It didn't take a girl more than a month of working at the Playboy Club to learn the best way to keep someone's attention, especially if she was looking for a good tip.

Walking around with that kind of swivel to her hips was playing dirty, but so was the way Frances liked to lean in just slightly toward her when they met socially, at one of the political functions that were threatening to take over Alice's nights off. The game was simple: Frances would say something utterly innocuous and mean nothing so innocent as _what a pretty dress, Mrs. Beaseley--green suits you_. And then she'd draw back towards Nick Dalton, looking up at him with an adoring. Alice would smile politely and thank her and find her gaze drawn across the room for the rest of the evening, sometimes noticeably enough that Sean teased her on the drive home. It was hard to resist taking advantage of a situation when it didn't cost anything to try.

Besides, it was always a refreshing change to have a woman trailing after her like she was the only thing in the world worth watching.

A bag of clementines sat on the kitchen table, the red mesh already torn open, and three of the oranges had rolled out. Swallowing the long-suffering sigh that she reserved for casual observers, Alice took a serving bowl from the cupboard and emptied the bag into it. She'd put the oranges in the icebox when she bought them a day ago, but Sean never liked putting fruit in the icebox--he thought it tasted better at room temperature--and he must have forgotten to put them away. They looked nice heaped up in a serving bowl in the center of the kitchen, though, like a still life painting.

She heard a snicker behind her as she arranged the oranges and looked back over her shoulder.

"Go on." Frances nodded toward the table, one hand coming up to cover her mouth. "I just--no wonder Sean's parents love you, you do the entire June Cleaver bit so _well_."

Alice turned around, running her thumb over the skin of one of the oranges. It felt almost like leather against her skin. "I just think that if I'm going to do something, I might as well do it right."

"You get full marks for fruit arranging."

"Good." She turned her thumb and pressed down, slicing into the thin skin with the edge of her fingernail. "Let's see how I do on the 'feeding oranges to a lover' test."

**Author's Note:**

> So I discovered this show right after it got canceled, and now I'm heartbroken as hell over it. I want the adventures of Alice and Sean and Frances to go on _forever_ (ngl, I'd be willing to jettison most of the other plots).
> 
> Title is from "Lovers in a Dangerous Time." While it pains me a little to be anachronistic, the line just jumped at me.


End file.
